


There's a WHAT in the Shatterdome?!

by Gothams_Only_Wolf



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Even alien kiddos, Gen, Raleigh Becket is a Softie, Raleigh Becket is a puppy, good with kids, who knew
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-07-22 21:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7454368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gothams_Only_Wolf/pseuds/Gothams_Only_Wolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raleigh was just glad to be alive. Now... Would someone please help get Inari off his leg so he can sleep?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Raleigh has a Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blame colonel-sebbmoran on Tumblr for this! I saw thier Newt sketch with Blue in it and got tackled by a Muse. Alright, I swore I'd clear this WIP pile out. This is one of them. 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

**-Shatterdome Hong Kong; Four Hours after Recovery from the Breach-**

"Umm, Mako?" Raleigh appeared at the side of her bed with a troubled expression. He didn't want to kill it but it was seriously starting to freak him out. 

"Yes Raleigh." She patted the edge of the bed and he shook his head no. 

"I, uh, I have a Kaiju." Mako blinked at his wording, starting to look worried. 

"Nightmare?" 

"No. Actual Kaiju." Raleigh lifted his left leg above the railing to show Mako the tiny Kaiju that had latched onto his leg shortly after the escape pods had been brought to the 'Dome. "It's, uh, attached to me. My mind." 

"Since you Drifted with the Breach. Does... it have a gender?" The glowing blue baby, because Raleigh didn't know what **else** to call it, warbled and patted at his leg. 

_Hungry._

**_I know. I just needed to tell Mako first._** Raleigh cleared his throat and asked it, **_You have a... preference?_**

 _Mmm?_ It wasn't large like Kodachi had been nor like it's previous counterparts, which were immense. He was confused as to why it was near him instead of the scientists. 

**_Uh, gender?_** He presented the concept slowly and carefully and the little one chewed on his boot laces for a bit. 

_Girl._

**_You're sure?_ **

_Yes. Like-_ It flared a series of Mako in images, what felt like pride laced among them. _and-_ His Maman, brave and frail and still bold even up to her death. 

Raleigh shrugged helplessly and set his foot back onto the floor. "Girl. She showed me Maman an' you." 

"I see," She peered down at the little Kaiju with faint interest. "Have you told the Marshal?" 

"Which one? Stacker's in no shape and Herc's by Chuck. Tendo's running the Shatterdome in his official capacity of Third in Command." Raleigh sighed as he sat on the bed. "This is one hell of a clusterfuck." 

"Language." Mako absently chided and then giggled. "Does she even understand English?" 

_Understand little. Hungry._ She pawed at his leg, the blunt claws closer to a bear's than the sickles they could have been. _...Please?_

"She just said please. Polite Kaiju. Who knew." He wheezed out from the shock. "She's hungry. Has been since she found me in my bed." 

"I think we need to see the scientists." Mako said decisively. 

"Good idea. Maybe they know." He agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	2. Breakfast of Champions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let there be more cuteness! 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

They slipped through the unoccupied portions of the Shatterdome, keeping a blanket around Raleigh's waist so that the Kaiju didn't show. Mako had to stop frequently; she technically wasn't supposed to be out of bed at all but she knew as Raleigh did that this was important. 

_Food soon?_

**_Yeah._** Raleigh kept his fear of Kaiju and anything related to them boxed in tightly. It wouldn't be right to take it out on an innocent baby that had no clue what her predecessors had wrought. She was relying on him; he wouldn't let her down. 

"Dr. Gieszler?" He poked his head into the lab and made a noise of understanding. "Maks, they're asleep. You remember anything they taught at the Academy that could help us now? My memory's not as good." It hurt to admit but Mako, still Ghosting with him, understood why he asked her. 

"Ammonia. I think there's a skin mite or three in the inventory." She relayed as she took the armchair across from the sleeping scientists. Raleigh was in pain too but not nearly as much as Mako was with the new Drivesuit scars. "Chau gave us a lot to work with after he cut his way out of Kodachi." 

"Right. Thanks. You c'n stay there. Rest." He nodded as he snagged the clipboard off the wall, detailing the inventory Chau had dumped on them. **_How does a bit of skin mite sound?_**

 _Mite! Mite!_ She let go of his leg and warbled again, louder than previously. 

**_Shhh. Mako's asleep._** Raleigh pressed _quiet-rest-hurt_ with a visual of Mako sleeping. **_We'll get your mite._**

_Otay._ She peeped softly, nuzzling against his leg and hiding under the blanket again as he walked through the tanks. _Why no Hive?_

 ** _Oh boy. Hive... Bad. Hurt a lot of people._** The unbidden flash of Yancy at the mercy of Knifehead flared without his permission. **_Hurt me._**

 _Hurt back?_ she was surprisingly supportive of his fight, showing him Gipsy against Leatherback from his own perspective. 

**_... Yeah._** he admitted with shame, finding the mite that she could eat without too much noise. 

_Protect, yes?_

**_Yes._** He showed her Hong Kong and the many faces of the Shatterdome. **_Defend... Avenge._** Flickers of Mako's parents and Stacker filtered through but she churred with a wordless question. **_Family._**

 _Family you, me, Mako?_ He looked at her from where she was peering up at him from under the thick blanket. It was hesitant and tinged with a wash of fear that churned his gut. She had mastered what happened in barely half an hour; he hadn't meant to project that much. 

**_Of course._** Raleigh said as he patted her head through the blanket. She tore into the skin mite and licked her feet to clean her face afterward, honestly looking like the oddest mix of big cat and bear he'd ever seen. **_Good or do you need another one?_**

_Mm-mm. Full._ She wriggled back under the blanket and wrapped her paws around his good leg again. _Sleepy._ Raleigh walked carefully, spotting a cot about half-buried under paperwork. He moved the pile to a vaguely clear desk and laid down with the Kaiju still attached to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	3. Sleeping Cutey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad you all seem to like Inari~ She is adorable, isn't she?
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

He woke up to an unintelligible shriek and German cursing so bad he was mentally bleeping out the words as they came from the other Dr. 

"What, may I ask, is _that_ Ranger Becket?" Dr. Gottlieb said with a strained tone. 

"'S a Kaiju. She's too little t' eat ya." Raleigh yawned as she curled further into his embrace. **_Didn't I leave you on my boot?_**

 _... Chewed boot too much. Warmer here._ She slurred out, yawning to reveal a glowing blue tongue. _Shh._ Raleigh woke up at that but cradled her close and tied the blanket so she'd stay asleep. 

"How on Earth are you so calm?" The man huffed as he stared at the lump against Raleigh's chest. 

"She's been talkin' to me since about an hour after the escape pods were brought to the 'Dome. Harmless, really, cause she's barely bigger than a housecat at this point." He shrugged lightly, peering in to check on her. She drooled on the blanket, leaving a trail of glowing saliva that hadn't eaten through the fabric. "Her drool isn't even eating through the blanket an' I have no clue how she avoided detection." 

"Duuddde. You should've woken us up for this. Is it in there? Can I see?" Dr. Gieszler spoke up and Raleigh turned to the side with a hand over her. "...Okay." 

" _She_ is sleeping and you're loud." Raleigh pointed out as she snuffled against his chest. "Mako had more manners than you do." 

"Raleigh, let him see." Mako insisted. "She might need an exam." 

"Fine. She stays on the blanket though." He sighed but capitulated, laying her on the cleanest lab table he could find, slowly unwrapping her. "She was wet earlier but I think she's got fur." 

She whined in her sleep with Raleigh gently stroking down her back to calm her. She's a solid sapphire with lighter rosettes in powder blue and her claws are sepia with white tips. The paw pads are navy blue with lighter blue mottling; touching both made her fold them under her chest with a faint huff. 

"Has she eaten anything?" Dr. Gieszler questioned after Raleigh wrapped her back up and tied the blanket again. 

"Skin mite. Finished it in one go an' didn't seem to want another." He mentioned as she rolled so that her underbelly was exposed. "Underbelly's the same light blue as her paws. Is she okay?" 

"She, uh, she seems okay. Bring her down after you show the Marshals?" 

"Sure, Dr." Raleigh almost rolled his eyes at the man, having had little patience for him in the first place.

* * *

**-Nine Hours After Kaiju Attachment-**

He went straight for Tendo in the Mess Hall. "Tendo, my man, we gotta talk." 

"I'm heading for my lunch break. Can it wait for about forty-five minutes?" Tendo asked around a mouthful of sandwich. 

"Yes and no. I'll get my lunch an' then we can talk on the walkways." Raleigh said as he got in line for his own tray. He was still getting wide-eyed looks from personnel but they left him alone after he grabbed a second tray heading towards Mako, who'd been put back on bed-rest. 

Mako's doctor, a fairly short man by the name of Takeda, pinned Raleigh with a glare, "Mako isn't to leave Medical any time soon. You should also be in bed but I cannot enforce that rule. Behave, Ranger." 

"Okay, okay. I'll let Mako rest." Raleigh conceded after he set down Mako's tray. "Sorry Maks." 

"No, no. I am still very sore and he is right. Why aren't you laid up?" She questioned after a bite of her Jello. 

"The little one. I crashed for about five hours and I look like shit but I feel okay. Dunno why." He muttered while looking over at the Marshal, who was looking fairly lucid. "Marshal's up." 

"Not yet. Try Herc first," Mako motioned with her chin, "but perhaps at a later point." Herc was busy talking to his son and it looked like the serious kind. 

"I still have to go talk to Tendo." Raleigh offered as she laid back against her mound of pillows. 

"He'll listen." She said after she covered her yawn with her hand. "He always does."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	4. The Pug Kind of Cute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da, I'm on roll posting chapters! 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

Tendo listened alright... After he freaked out for about a full fifteen minutes. 

"A Kaiju?! You're carrying around the equivalent of a tiger cub because it bonded with you?!" Tendo hissed with a glare at the covered Kaiju. 

"Will ya quit for a second and just look?" Raleigh sighed as he cradled her rump. "She's asleep 'n perfectly harmless at the mo." 

Tendo peered into the blanket, pulling back with a contemplative expression. "Has it bitten anyone?" 

"Unless you wanna count my boot, no. She's been pretty placid." He laughed as he showed Tendo the torn edges of his left boot. 

"Why do you keep referring to the Kaiju as a her?" Tendo asked after he finished his juice box. 

"Because she picked out what she wanted to be. I explained the concept of gender; she picked girl after a bit." Raleigh shrugged. 

"No name yet?" Tendo asked shrewdly. 

"Mm-mm. She's been sleeping for the better part of the day. Active for about four hours and then passed out after eating a skin mite." He informed his old friend with a wry smile at his Kaiju. "Very adventurous, as you can see." 

"Still gave me a heart attack. She is... kinda cute. Like the pug kind." 

"So ugly she's cute?" He teased and that earned him an eye roll. 

"Whatever bro." Tendo waved him off, bent over his tablet and typing furiously. "Memo to me, maim you after this has all fallen to pieces." 

"Aww, Tendo, c'mon..." Raleigh cajoles. 

"Does K-Sci know?" 

"Yeah. That little one poked at her." Raleigh bristled faintly at the mention, not happy with how she'd been treated. "He rubs us both the wrong way." 

"Both, or just you?" Tendo always was more astute than the rest of LOCCENT. 

"Just me," Raleigh muttered. "Little asshole wanted to see one up close 'n personal. Got his wish but pissed his pants in the process. He forgot that the Drift goes both way, the idiot." 

"You really don't like him." 

"He poked and prodded and I _hate_ —" His teeth clicked as he stopped with a short inhale. "Reminds me too much of Maman's doctors." 

"Oh." Tendo knew the whole story, down to the day his sperm-donor dropped all three of them like rocks the second Yancy was legally an adult. "Well, that we can't help. I know you hate Medical with the passion of a thousand burning suns but Mako needs you and I need you to stay put with her until the Marshals are up and functioning again in the right capacity." 

"Alright," Raleigh sighed as he shifted his Kaiju to eat properly. "lunch an' then Medical. Good luck with the pack of hyenas calling themselves the Press." 

"Gee Rals, so supportive." Tendo nudged his shoulder and Raleigh nudged back as they dangled their feet above the former Jaeger Bay of GD. "Stacker has a standing order with the Hong Kong PD to keep them out. No news from us or anyone inside because of confidentiality agreements and all that jazz. Just what we release on what media we chose." 

"Lucky." 

"Haven't broken Twitter yet." 

"Nah, that'd be Tresspasser's accomplishment." Raleigh teased and Tendo threw up his hand with an eye roll.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	5. Mama Wolf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh was feeling grumbly. I indulged. 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

Raleigh eventually fell asleep on the heavy I-beam cross-section over Gipsy's Bay, Kaiju cuddled in his arms like a stuffed animal. 

It took half the Shatterdome to find him until Mako laughingly told them to go check the support structures over the Jaeger Bays. Raleigh liked sleeping in high places if he could scramble up to them. 

The cry of dismay was what woke him, the baby Kaiju scruffed and flailing in some tech's hand. 

_Raleigh! **RALEIGH!**_ She projected blind panic and helplessness all in the same breath, trying to get to the one person that meant safety to her. _Raleigh...._ The high-pitched howls broke Raleigh's heart and he swatted the tech's hand away to scoop her up and soothe her. 

**_I'm here, baby._ **

She warbled so loudly that her voice cracked at his reassurance. 

**_Shhh, shhh. I gotcha._ **

She licked at his hand and then started suckling on his thumb, her four bright blue eyes half-closed as she slowly calmed down. 

Raleigh snapped his head up to glare at the shocked tech.

"Do not ever scruff Inari again," he stated coldly, eyes mirroring the icy Alaskan shores he'd come from. "She's a goddamn _baby_ and understands about this much of what's going on, you dick." He made a gesture to get it across to the shaking tech, fingers a tiny bit apart. "I don't want to hear that just because she's a Kaiju that she deserves to be tried for the crimes that her siblings perpetuated against mankind." 

He got to his feet easily, walking down the I-beam like he was born to be up in the air. 

Raleigh sighed as he slumped against the Shatterdome's corrugated wall, fenced in by the yellow Jaeger lift. Inari was still suckling, her front paws kneading at his forearm and wrist. The saliva wasn't burning and it wasn't getting into any of Raleigh's brand new scabs so he didn't think anything of it until it hit metal. 

It hissed and sent up a faint hint of acrid smoke. 

Well then. 

Time to go see Dr. Giezler.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	6. Bottomless Tummy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More cutie pie Inari! 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

His expression, if expression it could be _called_ , left nothing to the imagination. Raleigh marched past techs, LOCCENT personnel and even Medical with an expression so furious (matching the one his Maman used to give to strangers thinking they could comment on her choices) that they all cleared out of his way long before he reached them. 

It faltered somewhere near Med Bay and slipped even further until he was cooing at Inari by the time he reached K-Sci. 

"So everyone knows about her now." He stated bluntly as Dr. Geiszler dropped his scalpel at the sight of Inari in the open. 

"Oh. Rumor had it you were pissed when someone else touched her," Gieszler was approaching him with caution, stepping carefully. 

"I don't care for you, Doctor, but you are the expert here. Examine away but don't scruff her or ask her to move right now." Raleigh sighed as he sat down in a creaky old desk chair. Inari was getting a little heavier and she was laying on his right arm, which had sustained damage during Pitfall. "Her saliva pitted one of the Jaeger lifts but doesn't seem to harm organic things." 

"I'll snag a sample on a cotton q-tip." Gieszler agreed as he looked Inari over. "She's bigger than she was a few hours ago. Did she eat again?" 

"No." Raleigh paused and offered, "I did, though, and more than I normally would. We're connected via Drift-link and maybe Hivemind because I can understand her." 

"Because you Drifted with the Breach," Gieszler muttered. "She seems fine but let me know if that changes." 

"I will." 

Inari licked at his thumb before pulling off of it to whine softly. _Hungry._

"Okay, you want a mite?" 

_Egg._

"Human food?" 

_Not picky._

"Alright." Raleigh shifted Inari to lay across his left shoulder, her body heat soothing the old aches just fine. "Doc, how many skin mites do you have?" 

"Chau dumped a lot more after you took a nap. She hungry again?" 

"Yup."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	7. Shinshine Puppy Traits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot I had this... Big thank you to draca, who commented and reminded me!
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

Inari warbled happily upon seeing Mako sitting up in bed. Down in ICU, the Kaidonovskies and the Weis were being monitored. They'd been found alive but seriously injured, same as Stacker and Hansen Jr., in extremely battered escape pods. 

The Kaidonovskies had been waterlogged but coherent at the time of rescue, the Weis unconcious but breathing as they had to be torn out of their pods with metal clamps and cutting torches. 

Mako cooed at Inari and gently ran her thumb up the bridge of Inari's large, flat, almost bear-like muzzle. 

"Have you found out where she came from?" Mako asked as she cupped Inari's chin and looked into the four slitted blue eyes with a soft smile. 

"Nope. All I remember is waking up in Med Bay with Inari huddled underneath my bed. Maybe she latched onto my escape pod? I don't-" 

Visuals of a nest flared along the connection, the eggs clinging to the rocks of an underwater volcano. Most of the eggs are destroyed as Raleigh watched in astonishment, concentrating on a single floating egg with marbled gold and blue glowing as the egg latched onto the nearest object, Raleigh's raft/pod. 

_Me._

"Oh." He kicked off his boots and cuddled up to Mako with Inari in the middle, the little Kaiju yawning to display her bright blue tongue and glowing fangs. "So it looks like there was a Kaiju nest in a volcano that got destroyed by the explosion and she latched onto the first solid object that would hold her. Doesn't explain how we're linked though." 

_Breach? Link?_

"I heard that." Mako looked at Inari in surprise but scritched under the powder blue chin. "She **is** polite. What a doll." Raleigh spluttered out a laugh at hearing his own endearment coming from Mako's soft lips. 

"That she is. So're you, if you wanna be?" He offered quietly as he extended his injured hand. Mako gladly laced their un-injured fingers together and hummed happily. 

"Of course." Six sets of blue eyes crinkle at the edges, four of them inhuman. "Inari is picking up all of your sunshine puppy traits. It might help." 

"Sunshine what?"

* * *

Inari nuzzled him awake and he absently scritched under her chin and rubbed at his eyes with his free hand. 

When he cleared his vision, there was a semi-circle of various injured pilots staring at Inari. 

"Ranger Becket, if you would explain the presence of a Kaiju in the Shatterdome after we closed the Breach?" Stacker rasped out with a stern stare. 

"There was a nest of Kaiju eggs in a dormant sea volcano. She's the only one to survive the blast and subsequent closing of the Breach. Her egg latched onto my escape pod, she hatched in one of the Jaeger Bays, ended up under my bed 'cause I Drifted with the Breach an' felt familiar to her." Raleigh managed to say before Inari pawed at him. 

_Hungry. Not enemy?_

**_No baby, not enemy._**

_Pretty Hive._

Raleigh laughed at that and turned to see the rest of the Rangers still staring. "She said that you guys are pretty. I know this is... asking a lot of you all. You've spent most of your lives trying to get rid of Kaiju. But Inari is a baby, still learning how to walk and talk, and doesn't deserve to be maligned for the crimes of those before her." 

He looked at her and stroked her fur as the other Jaeger pilots digested what he said. 

"God knows I should be the first to push her away—seeing as Knifehead took my brother—but I'm not heartless and I can't—I can't do that to an innocent kid. Even if she's an alien. Maybe I'm compromised. I honestly don't know." 

Stacker and Herc share a look, followed by the rest of the pilots as they discussed it mentally. Raleigh scooped Inari up and stood, almost staggering under the weight of her. 

"You got bigger." 

_I did?_

"Mm-hmm. You wanna try walking, petit?" 

_Walk-ing?_

**_Like... Hold on._** Raleigh set her down, got onto his hands and knees and showed her. 

Inari hesitantly stood on all fours and took a tentative step forward. _Oh!_

She took another step and then warbled softly as she kept taking them. She was about a quarter of the way to the exit when she fell. Inari snuffled, washed her face and stubbornly tried again. Raleigh got off the floor in stages as she practiced walking around. 

**_Look at you, baby, you're doin' so good._** he cooed as she followed after his slow pace. 

Techs, LOCCENT personnel and others openly gawked at Inari's gangly stride and frankly adorable little stumbles as they made their way to KSci. 

She stopped at the doorway and inhaled the scents. Inari ambled over to Dr. Giezler and nudged him with her head. 

"Whoa, lookin' good, little Kaiju!" The excited babble had Inari backing up and sitting next to Raleigh. 

_Hello! Mite? Please?_ She kreeled and then licked her nose. 

"She said hello, asked you for a skin-mite and followed it with a please." Raleigh translated. "Inari's able to walk now." 

"I can see!" The Dr. kneeled down and offered his hand. Inari licked his hand from fingertips to palm, huffing what sounded like a laugh afterwards. "Excellent sample, little dude. The skin-mites are over there."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


End file.
